Fall is Here

It’s that time of year again: Fall. And while Southern California – where I have been living for the past 10 years – seems to be experiencing (what is hoped to be) a short pout of a summer heat wave, it’s hard to believe that it’s the end of September already with Halloween only a little over a month away and the holidays not that far off from there.

Can you believe how quickly the year has gone by already? It doesn’t seem that long ago that everyone was gearing up for spring and then the excitement over summer finally arriving. Of course, for those genre fans (like myself) July always means the annual trek to San Diego for Comic Con and then all the kids cringe (and parents rejoice) over the start of school. I have to admit that I am VERY thankful I have never had to give a second thought to the latter except for how maniacal the traffic gets during morning rush hour once school does start. I really think Southern California needs to seriously look into making all schools institute bus transportation, disallowing parents to drive their children to school. This would eliminate needless traffic jams at all the schools and perhaps free up the roads for those of us who want to get to work early or – God forbid – on time. But that’s a rant for another time.

Now that we are heading into fall, there is still a lot to look forward to such as all the new and returning shows on the major networks (and even some of the cable channels) and fun events to attend like those held at the Paley Center for Media, the Writer’s Guild of America and even fan conventions arranged by Creation Entertainment.

Whatever your plans are for the Fall, I hope you have a terrific time. If you’d like to learn more about the above locations, please visit: The Paley Center, The Writer’s Guild (West), The Writer’s Guild (East) or Creation Entertainment.

Faeline Faery by Misty Benson

Artist Spotlight: This month’s artist’s spotlight is on Misty Benson, who grew up on a dairy farm in Idaho, but at the age of 12 she moved with her family to Washington. She later lived in Colorado and, for a short time, in New York. Her travels have also taken her to Nepal, Thailand, Costa Rica, Spain, England, Wales, China, and South Africa. All roads have led her back to Idaho, though, which is where she resides now. One of her most wonderful memories of childhood is running wild and reading lots of books.

Misty loves all things sweet and spooky, sugar and sour, morbid and adorable; ergo, the name of her website Morbidly Adorable Creations by Misty Benson. Big eyes fit all those favorites and have influenced both her faery and what she calls “skelly” art. She first saw the big eye art of Gig as a child, as her grandmother had one of Gig’s famous “Pity Kitties” pieces on the wall. Besides Gig, a lot of her inspiration comes from big-eyed dolls such as Pullips and Dollfies. In addition, she has a love and respect for all life; including insects, which also inspires her artwork.

As mentioned, she grew up reading the Serendipity books and the ElfQuest novels being her favorites. Her love of faeries was deepened by the magickal world of Brian and Wendy Froud as well as the art style of Junko Mizuno. Her personal experiences and wonderful reading adventures have combined to reflect her art. Frido Kahlo is also a huge influence on the darker side of her art.

While her mom and aunt were the artists in the family when Misty was growing up, she took her first art history course (as well as an anthropology course) in college, ending up with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Cultural Anthropology and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Studio Arts.

Today, she primarily paints in acrylics and sculpts in paperclay because of their ease and speed. For her Gossamerfaery Attic, she paints and sculpts dreamy, big-eyed faeries and delightful Day of the Dead skeletons. These creations have been featured in paintings, prints, one-of-a-kind sculptures, magnets, stickers and cards. Both her faeries and skellies have been published in the books “500 Fairy Motifs”, “Big Eye Art: Resurrected and Transformed” and her solo book “The Morbidly Adorable Skelly”.

Her featured piece is called Faeline Faery, which showcases a glowering girl with her smiley “skelly” cat. This piece is one of her most popular images that depict her favorite things.

If you would like to reach Misty, you can email her gossamerfaery@hotmail.com or visit her website.